


The High Between Exhaustion and the Fire in Your Veins

by theskyisblue



Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: Drabble, Exhausted Austin PD, FBI Agents Being FBI Agents, M/M, Sleepy Carlos Reyes, TK Just Being a Good Boyfriend, TK Paying a Visit to the Precinct
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:21:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23337547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theskyisblue/pseuds/theskyisblue
Summary: When your boyfriend hasn't come home for eight days in a row because of overtime, well, the logical step is to head to the precinct for a completely friendly visit with the people in charge.Right?*Or TK goesoff,showcasing his lawyer mom side and Carlos has never been more exhausted and turned on all at the same time in his life*
Relationships: Carlos Reyes/TK Strand
Comments: 37
Kudos: 653





	The High Between Exhaustion and the Fire in Your Veins

**Author's Note:**

> Just as I was falling asleep at 12:30am dialogue for this fic came to mind and needless to say that is how this fic came to be. And just as an FYI, I have nothing against FBI agents, and Criminal Minds is one of my favourite binge shows, but as always, not everyone in the law enforcement are easy to deal with. 
> 
> My mind is restless in the morning and I should probably be thankful to some extent? Lol anyway, hope you enjoy this drabble I put together with the last of my brain cells

TK would like to think he was a considerate, and rational human being. 

He always paid for street parking, always gave a little extra tip to support waiters and waitresses in restaurants (except when they were being dicks, and even then, he still gave tips) and worked diligently to pay the rent on time. He also happened to work with some of the best people he knew so yes, TK would like to think that he was a respectful, and thoughtful human being. 

But this. 

This was just ridiculous. 

He had planned leaving it with just an innocent text at first, a simple _‘hey, will you be joining me for dinner tonight?’_ because he completely understood Carlos’ work schedule, especially his work ethic, and always found himself filled with nothing but admiration for how good his boyfriend was at his job. But that simple text sent in the morning had been left unread for the entire 12 hours of his shift and then some, and when he was just about to call him to ease the slight panic he was starting to feel, the text that suddenly came in made his skin crawl with irritation.

_’Sorry babe, gotta do another overtime’_

TK had no qualms with overtime. Hell, he himself sometimes had to break initial promises to meet up because of alarms going off five minutes before his shift ended or just calls that ran longer than expected. So he understood, and respected that sometimes plans had to fall through and it was nothing to mull over because it would just make everything all the more special the next time they did see one another. 

This, however, was the eighth day in a row that Carlos had to stay overtime at the station, the eighth day in a row he hadn’t slept properly, nor eaten properly judging by the slight dust in the kitchen area indicating its non-usage. It also meant the eighth day in a row TK has not been able to see and check in with his boyfriend in person because of the serial killer investigation that escalated to an official FBI investigation, and it was an eighth day too many. 

And an eighth day of complete nonsense. 

TK knew firsthand how hard the Austin PD worked, having visited on many occasions to bring Carlos lunches or surprising him off shift, and he also knew that everyone in his department must be absolutely exhausted from the ridiculous overtime. Ana had a husband and two children that were probably driving him nuts over not seeing their own mother for eight days on end, and he knew that Roger was working through a custody agreement that this overtime was definitely not helping in. They were working their asses off, and deserved way better than what he presumed were the FBI agents stunts just because they were higher in the chain of command. 

Because hell to the absolute _no._

And that was how TK found himself opting to enter through the push-pull doors instead of the revolving ones, to make sure that the sharp gust of air current would be noticed, and the sound of the door slamming shut behind him was heard. His eyes scanned the messier than usual desks, full of strewn pieces of paper and various folders and documents opened and stacked precariously on top of each other and officers glued to their workstations like zombies at mass. TK could see dark circles under each and every single one of their eye sockets and felt a sharp spike of annoyance and utmost sympathy. 

He didn’t even need to meet these FBI agents beforehand to know they were complete and utter assholes. 

His eyes met John’s, one of Carlos’ co-workers who was uncannily good at chess, watching as his eyes widened in surprise. 

“TK? What are you-it’s 3am!” John gaped, but TK wasn’t phased, instead narrowing his eyes at the meeting rooms that all had their doors shut. 

“Which one is he in?” TK asked sharply, and John seemed to be processing his words through his exhaustion, before tilting his head to room 116 and TK nodded to him in thanks. He needed no further explanation, not even surprised that none of the officers even bothered moving to stop him. They all had barely enough energy to sort through the numerous files, let alone stand. TK debated knocking at all and decided in the end to do so for minor curtesy but opened the door unceremoniously anyway without waiting for a positive answer. 

“What in the world-“

TK didn’t bother to stop the door from slamming into the opposite wall, his eyes shifting to the officers sitting along the long wooden table, and felt a sense of relief when he saw Carlos sitting at the other end, eyes staring at him in surprise. 

“You cannot be in here!” 

TK sent Carlos a small smile before it disappeared when he looked up to meet the eyes of no-doubt two FBI agents judging by their arrogantly sparkly badges who were glaring at him in both shock and displeasure. 

“This is a private meeting! You can't just-“

“Gentlemen, do you have any idea what time it is?” TK interrupted, his tone cold as ice, and watched as the FBI agents scowled. 

“What on earth does that have to do with-“

“I asked you a question.” TK cut them off, raising an unimpressed eyebrow. Moving, TK crossed his arms to elicit a more intimidating stance, and the two FBI agents exchanged a look before the taller one frowned. 

“It’s 3am.” 

“And pray, tell me, exactly why these officers are still here when it is 3am in the damn morning?” TK narrowed his eyes, and the FBI agents seemed to frown even deeper. 

“We are working a time sensitive case, and all of them are here on strict orders-“

“What all of these officers are, _agents,_ is completely and utterly exhausted. I am more than aware of the case you are working on; the news hasn’t exactly been discreet. What I also know is that no matter how much overtime you’re planning on doing, eight days in a row is absolute bullshit.” TK scowled, not even flinching as the agents met him head-on with glares of their own. By now, the entire precinct wasn’t even trying to pretend they weren’t listening in, and TK thought he saw John’s lips twitching slightly.

His mother was a lawyer, he’s seen his fair share of intimidation at her workplace and these two didn’t even hold a candle to any of them. 

“Sir, I would like to ask you to please leave. We are trying to catch a serial killer who has taken the lives of multiple people over the past month. He already has been ten steps ahead, and he’s holding a ticking time bomb over all of us-“

“You know what else the killer also has over you all? A damn sleep schedule, which is actually required for your apparent single digit brain cells to actually function, _sir._ ” 

“I can _arrest you_ for impeding the investigation-“

“Oh, like hell you can. More like you can _try_ but the only thing you can hold on me is getting your little feelings hurt. Which, would never stand in court.”

TK stood his ground, thanking his mother silently for times like these where he needed to show a more ruthless side to idiotic agents who thought their badge could protect them from everything. TK has seen and even met a few FBI agents in the past, so he knew firsthand that not all of them were assholes, but these two really loved to ruin their already thin-ice reputation. 

“This can be considered an _obstruction of justice-_ “ 

“All of these officers have done unpaid overtime for the past eight days. They are all here, because they actually want to help, even if they have to put up with _you two_ as agents in charge. They also don’t say anything and go along with what you two say because they respect your position, and they do want to catch this son of a bitch but you two are pushing their limits way too far.” TK took a step forward, feeling a slight sense of satisfaction as the two agents unconsciously took a step back. “This entire department has worked their asses off this past month on this case even before you two arrived, they deserve a damn _break._ ” With that, TK was left with a staring match with the two agents, and for a long while, TK was prepared to argue with whatever nonsense would come out of their mouths next. 

“We’ll start again in the morning.” 

TK blinked, trying to shove down his surprise when the two agents exchanged a look, before noticing that their shoulders were slumping slightly. 

“Everyone go home, get some rest. We’ll continue the investigation in the morning.” One of the agents sighed, before looking out at the other officers in the main area outside the meeting room. “That goes for all of you too! Go home!” The officers needed no more prompting and immediately got up from their desks and hurried to gather their things. TK vaguely felt a couple of pats to his shoulder, of a few _‘thanks man,’_ and _‘that was epic,’_ but the only person he could focus on was Carlos, who was staring at him with an unreadable expression in his eyes. He hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting Carlos’ gaze until now since he had finished glaring at the agents in their little argument, but TK was genuinely confused on why Carlos looked like he was in a daze.

It was probably the exhaustion. 

Shaking his head, TK moved forward, ignoring the two agents that made their way out of the meeting room and held out a hand in front of his boyfriend. 

“Let’s go home.” 

.

_”Let’s go home.”_

Carlos wasn’t quite sure what had happened in between the time he arrived in the meeting room, tiredly sitting in the uncomfortable plastic chairs to suddenly seeing TK’s concerned expression in front of him. One moment he was forcing his eyes open to read the words on the dozens of open files in front of him, trying to piece together…something, and the next his eyes were watching his boyfriend verbally battling it out with the two FBI agents in charge of the investigation. He didn’t know if it was his exhaustion making him a little slow for the past few days, but he just sat and stared in complete awe as TK snapped at the agents as if they were arguing about the weather. 

And damn if it wasn’t hot as _fuck._

For the past two months they’ve been together, and all the time before then, Carlos has seen TK annoyed, sure, but this was a whole other level. This was TK standing up for the entire police department because he felt that the overtime was completely unjust, and arguing with two people who could have locked him up for no reason at all, and just for the simple reason of wanting to make sure the officers got at least one good night of sleep. When one of the agents actually had the audacity to threaten to arrest his boyfriend, he almost leaped up in defense but stopped himself when he saw TK not even looking the least bit concerned. He vaguely heard his chief sitting beside him whistling lowly, impressed, as the firefighter stood his ground. 

“Damn Reyes, your boy sure is something.” The chief grinned, and Carlos barely registered what she was saying as his eyes hadn’t strayed once from TK since he first stalked into the room. 

Did he mention his boyfriend was _hot as fuck?_

It was a relief to his conscience that everyone was too busy being focused on the showdown in front of him to notice the little problem Carlos had downstairs, which he was eternally grateful for. And if Carlos hadn’t been as exhausted as he was, as soon as the agents left he was pretty sure he would already have TK pinned up against the meeting room table, to hell with everything else, and thoroughly explaining why he had a semi in his work pants. But because he could barely keep his eyes open, he reached up to take TK’s extended hand, and stumbled to his feet. 

“Whoa, hey, you okay?” TK asked gently, hands gripping his waist to steady him, and Carlos felt his heart jumping to his throat at how different his voice was now compared to when he was ripping into those agents earlier. It was like the blizzard had suddenly cleared to let in the sunshine, and Carlos had honestly never been so breathlessly frustrated that he couldn’t do something about how turned on he was because of his body being so tired it could hardly keep him upright. 

“M’fine. Just need sleep, and cuddles.” Carlos heard himself say, and damn that was definitely his tired mush of a brain talking. Nevertheless, it made TK chuckle endearingly, and Carlos found himself smiling in response. 

“C’mon then. I’m taking you home.” TK murmured, taking Carlos’ right arm and slinging it over his shoulders while his left hand circled the man’s waist to pull him in closer. Carlos closed his eyes, leaning his forehead against TK’s shoulder briefly before forcing himself to stand up straighter. 

“Think you could give me your keys? You’re in no state to drive.” TK said slowly, the two of them having made it out of the precinct and towards Carlos’ car and although Carlos was on the verge of slipping into unconsciousness while standing, he didn’t miss the slight smirk on the man’s lips. 

“We’re definitely going to talk about how you’re totally taking advantage of driving my car right now, but that’s a conversation for when I can actually speak and understand what I’m saying.” Carlos grumbled, feeling TK shaking underneath his arm as he laughed. Carlos was way too tired to remember how they managed to get home, probably some magic manoeuvring on TK’s end because next thing he knew he was falling face-first into his bed, humming in contentment. 

“I’m not even going to attempt to get you to shower.” TK chuckled, and Carlos lifted a hand to pull a pillow closer. 

“Shower tomorrow. Sleep now.” Carlos mumbled, his mind already turning hazy from the lack of forcing himself to be awake, but still kept himself on the verge of consciousness until TK joined him in bed. He reached out again blindly, this time grabbing what he thinks is TK’s pinkie, squeezing weakly. 

“Sleep with me.” 

Carlos wasn’t sure if his garbled words were understandable but judging by the hand that carded through his hair, he thinks TK probably understood anyway.

“You sure you can handle it?” Carlos felt himself jolt, a little more awake than before when lips attached themselves to the junction between his neck and shoulder. He huffed out a tired laugh, this time opening his eyes and grabbing TK by the hips to drag him onto the bed, the man landing on him with a surprised grunt. 

“I meant sleep as in _sleep._ Not that I’m not inclined for…that, but even though my dick seems to be disagreeing with how tired I am right now, I’m too exhausted to stay awake for rolling with you between the sheets.” Carlos sighed in quiet frustration at how out of all things _exhaustion_ was the thing cock-blocking him right now and felt the man on top of him shaking with barely suppressed laughter. 

“What the hell did I do for you to actually be turned on right now?” TK laughed, though his eyebrows were furrowed slightly in confusion, and Carlos opened his eyes wider, tilting his head down to look at the man lying on his chest in disbelief. 

“Are you being serious right now?” Carlos’ eyes widened, and TK only watched him intently, waiting for an explanation. Carlos opened his mouth, ready to blurt out exactly how sexy it was to see TK verbally destroying his indirect superiors, before stopping himself. 

Then again, he could always just…

“Not telling.” Carlos grinned, tightening his arms when he felt TK attempting to squirm free and rolled them both onto their sides. He purposefully swung a leg on top of TK’s hip, effectively pinning him in. 

“What the-Carlos! Let me go you-aren’t you supposed to be _tired?_ ” TK was still trying to escape his hold and even though each could hold their own in terms of strength, Carlos was a little more determined to keep TK close to him and he could tell TK didn’t actually want to leave his arms. 

He was winning at the moment. 

“Sleep, cariño.” Carlos mumbled, starting to feel a new wave of exhaustion and reluctantly loosened his hold. TK however, didn’t even bother trying to escape, and Carlos felt something warm spreading through his chest when the arms around his middle only tightened. 

“If those agents call you in anytime before 9, I’m gonna set fire to those super secret files.” TK muttered, and Carlos would have burst out laughing if his lungs weren’t begging him to go to sleep, so he opted to pull him in closer, tucking his face into TK’s neck. 

“I’ll hold you to that."  
  
  
  
In the morning, if he purposely brought TK on his day off to drop him off at the precinct and mused internally at the terrified look in both the agents’ eyes, well, it was purely a coincidence and totally unplanned. 

And if the agents demands were more bearable than usual and leads were seemingly easier to find after a good night’s sleep, it definitely didn’t have to do with the fact that TK dropped by frequently with food and refreshments for the entire police department. 

And if Carlos made sure to pull TK close to him every time he came around so that no one could misread exactly what they meant to each other, it definitely wasn’t to intimidate the FBI agents.  
  
Definitely not.

**Author's Note:**

> I really hope we get to meet TK's mother sometime in the show because I feel like she would be completely badass, if Owen being slightly wary of her is any indication 😂
> 
> As always, my [Tumblr](https://ao3theskyisblue.tumblr.com) is open for anything and everything 😊


End file.
